Background Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) is a membrane-associated peptidase. It has widespread organ distribution throughout the body and exerts pleiotropic effects. The liver expresses DPP4 to a high degree. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is more prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and is associated with increased mortality rates. Currently, there is no approved pharmacologic agent for the management of NAFLD. We need to discover more agents in the pathogenesis of NAFLD to attack it. Therefore, the aim of this work is to study the relationship between serum DPP4 enzyme and NAFLD in diabetic and nondiabetic patients.
Patients and methods This study was conducted on 160 patients divided equally into four groups: the control group included healthy participants; the T2DM group included type 2 diabetic patients without NAFLD; the NAFLD group included nondiabetic NAFLD patients; and the T2DM-NAFLD group included T2DM patients with NAFLD. Laboratory investigation included glycosylated hemoglobin, liver enzymes, lipid profile, and serum DPP4 enzyme.
Results DPP4 was significantly higher in the T2DM-NAFLD group compared with the other three groups, and in the NAFLD group and T2DM group compared with the control group. There was a significant direct correlation between serum DPP4 and BMI, glycosylated hemoglobin, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). There was a significant inverse correlation between serum DPP4 and high-density lipoprotein (HDL).
Conclusion DPP4 is significantly higher in diabetic patients compared with nondiabetic patients and in NAFLD patients compared with non-NAFLD patients. DPP4 can be proposed as a novel candidate in NAFLD pathogenesis.